SpaceX Tuesday...

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Eric Mc

122,165 posts

266 months

Saturday 16th January 2021
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That's what I've read and seen.

At some point these engines will be used to launch off unprepared surfaces on moons and planets - so they need to be able to cope with flying debris etc.

Flooble

5,565 posts

101 months

Sunday 17th January 2021
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Eric Berger (normally quite reliable) has said that he's hearing there won't be a flight until February:

https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/13501833163...

No idea why and he won't even hint at what he's heard. Maybe the fix for the pressurisation issue didn't work (hence the three short static fires in relatively quick succession - they were not testing launch but rather the "flip" or "land" burns?) Just speculation.

Beati Dogu

8,920 posts

140 months

Sunday 17th January 2021
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That sounds plausible.

Back in Florida, the first Cargo Dragon 2 capsule came into Port Canaveral a little while ago, onboard the recovery ship Go Navigator.

Beati Dogu

8,920 posts

140 months

Monday 18th January 2021
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The Starlink-16 launch has been put back until Tuesday, due to "unfavorable weather conditions in the recovery area".

It has been rescheduled for 1:23 pm UK time for now.

This will be a record 8th flight for the booster.

CraigyMc

16,490 posts

237 months

Monday 18th January 2021
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Beati Dogu said:
The Starlink-16 launch has been put back until Tuesday, due to "unfavorable weather conditions in the recovery area".

It has been rescheduled for 1:23 pm UK time for now.

This will be a record 8th flight for the booster.
I wonder if they'll stop launches at 10 for this generation or if they'll keep going until it fails. I suspect the latter.

Beati Dogu

8,920 posts

140 months

Monday 18th January 2021
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There isn't going to be another generation of Falcon 9 they've said. Rocket development is focused on the Starship program now.

As long as they're happy with the individual booster, they'll definitely keep pushing them beyond 10. Mostly, if not exclusively on their own Starlink launches, until they're happy they can cope. It costs about $1 million to refurbish a Falcon 9 booster apparently.

As Elon said, "I don’t want be cavalier, but there isn’t an obvious limit. 100+ flights are possible. Some parts will need to be replaced or upgraded. Cleaning all 9 Merlin [Falcon 9 engine] turbines is difficult. Raptor [the engine for the upcoming Starship] is way easier in this regard, despite being a far more complex engine."

Kerosene is much sootier than the methane burning Raptor.

The most dangerous part seem to be surviving the sea journey back without sliding off the deck (before they can anchor it down). Not something I would have guessed.



eharding

13,772 posts

285 months

Monday 18th January 2021
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Is this the first ever PistonPost over Starlink, or has somebody else beaten me to it?

Starlink kit duly delivered by DHL earlier. Postcode mangled by Starlink order site was still mangled, but DHL managed it anyway.

The world doesn't need another in-depth Starlink setup description, but I'd wager there hasn't been a photo of a dish with custard for scale....



...(note to self, state of lawn shocking, blaming the mole).

Speeds varying - the first ones I ran on the phone app where about 30mbps down, connected the desktop and seeing mostly ~90mbps down, fasted thus far 118mbps. Fairly stable at ~30mbps up. Had a ~10 second dropout as I was composing this...

Pings hovering around 30ms.

Speedtest.net thinks the my client IP of 176.116.125.17 is "Google Fi", but ipinfo.io identifies it as a UK IP address with Google as the ISP and SpaceX Services as the organisation.

Will get a slab to rest the disc tripod on, plus some ground stakes to hold it down.

Disc moves quite quickly - it ships in the vertical position, as you'd expect - plugged in, turned on, sat staring at it for a couple of minutes, turned around to get my phone, turned back and it was horizontal.

Was trying out the obstruction video test on the phone, hadn't twigged from the available YouTube videos that the area it tests for isn't circular, but a south-facing crescent (maybe due to my location?)

Cable coming in through the back door at the moment, have a through-wall duct elsewhere in the house for some old satellite cables, but will need to drill the hole out to a larger diameter - the POE cable has some form of larger diameter core close to the end, diameter ~20mm.

For the time being, I'm going to try the router outside in one of the observatory sheds which has mains power, see how well connecting through the french windows of my study goes. Just hope the telescope doesn't twig it's a Starlink router and starts being mean to it.

Edited: Latest speed test of 157mbps down....



Edited by eharding on Monday 18th January 15:48

Richie C

637 posts

207 months

Monday 18th January 2021
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Awesome. Exciting times for rural internet!

Beati Dogu

8,920 posts

140 months

Monday 18th January 2021
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Nice, thanks for the update. That has to be the first Starlink post here.

It’ll be interesting to see how it develops as the service coverage become more reliable.

While the use of custard is certainly innovative, I believe the banana is the proper unit of measure for small items and humpback whales for large things. Here’s a HyperCurie rocket engine from Rocket Lab demonstrating this:


S6PNJ

5,189 posts

282 months

Monday 18th January 2021
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Beati Dogu said:
While the use of custard is certainly innovative, I believe the banana is the proper unit of measure for small items and humpback whales for large things.
nono Custard is a measure of authenticity, not size. laugh

eharding

13,772 posts

285 months

Monday 18th January 2021
quotequote all
S6PNJ said:
Beati Dogu said:
While the use of custard is certainly innovative, I believe the banana is the proper unit of measure for small items and humpback whales for large things.
nono Custard is a measure of authenticity, not size. laugh
hehe

"I'm calling banana" doesn't have quite the same PH heritage. Makes me sound like one of these chaps

normalbloke

7,479 posts

220 months

Tuesday 19th January 2021
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S6PNJ said:
Beati Dogu said:
While the use of custard is certainly innovative, I believe the banana is the proper unit of measure for small items and humpback whales for large things.
nono Custard is a measure of authenticity, not size. laugh
I thought the PH standard unit of measurement for size was the tube of Pringles,especially with regards to snow depth.

craig_m67

949 posts

189 months

Tuesday 19th January 2021
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Fairly sure these are the universally adopted international standards now

https://www.theregister.com/Design/page/reg-standa...


Eric Mc

122,165 posts

266 months

Tuesday 19th January 2021
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Beati Dogu said:
Nice, thanks for the update. That has to be the first Starlink post here.

It’ll be interesting to see how it develops as the service coverage become more reliable.

While the use of custard is certainly innovative, I believe the banana is the proper unit of measure for small items and humpback whales for large things. Here’s a HyperCurie rocket engine from Rocket Lab demonstrating this:

REALLY large things use the standard "Size of Wales" method.

MartG

20,716 posts

205 months

Tuesday 19th January 2021
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Eric Mc said:
Beati Dogu said:
Nice, thanks for the update. That has to be the first Starlink post here.

It’ll be interesting to see how it develops as the service coverage become more reliable.

While the use of custard is certainly innovative, I believe the banana is the proper unit of measure for small items and humpback whales for large things. Here’s a HyperCurie rocket engine from Rocket Lab demonstrating this:

REALLY large things use the standard "Size of Wales" method.
Intermediate sizes use buses or swimming pools

Beati Dogu

8,920 posts

140 months

Tuesday 19th January 2021
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It seems SpaceX purchased a couple of oil rigs for conversion to flight operations last year. The rigs, now renamed after the moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos (Fear and Panic), cost $3.5 million each from a company that had filed for bankruptcy.

This is Phobos in a recent photo from LabPadre:



Looks to be larger than several double decker buses. biggrin

Phobos was discovered in the port of Brownsville, nearby to Boca Chica, by photographer Jack Beyer. He says he got bored waiting for SN9 to launch and went to explore the port.

The other rig, is up the coast in Galveston, Texas.

hidetheelephants

24,821 posts

194 months

Tuesday 19th January 2021
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Are they for landing or launching?

MartG

20,716 posts

205 months

Tuesday 19th January 2021
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hidetheelephants said:
Are they for landing or launching?
If Elon's tweet about Super Heavy landing back on its launch pad are true, then both smile

bill swizz

84 posts

188 months

Tuesday 19th January 2021
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Or have lots of them forming a ring around the globe and launch from one and land on the next downrange, refurb, refuel and repeat until all the way back to the start.

Or maybe not.

craig_m67

949 posts

189 months

Tuesday 19th January 2021
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The Starship is 357 linguine or 5.4 double decker busses.

How do you measure an oil rig, from sea level or the lowest pontoony thing?
(Enquiring minds want to know)
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